The Halo series has defined a generation of gamers by ushering in a new entry into the console war; the Xbox and also kept gamers on their toes with Bungie, followed by 343 Industries' captivating storyline following Spartan 117, "Master Chief" and his A.I. companion Cortana through battles with the covenant, the flood, shutting down the Halo rings, and of course the very poignant ending between the two that happened at the completion of Halo 4. Couple that with what could be described as the first multi-player of it's kind to hit a console and explode with popularity that lasts to this very day, Halo has become one of the most recognized and popular franchises that we as gamers will ever live to see. Does Halo: The Master Chief Collection capture everything that we have seen so far from this defining series?

Halo: The Master Chief Collection consists of every title that Master Chief has ever been in; Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4. If you are looking to play the shitacular awesome Halo 3: ODST and perhaps what is the more better attempt at telling a story without Master Chief; Halo: Reach, then you need to fire up your Xbox 360.

Each of the titles received some sort of graphical upgrade with the most attention going to Halo 2 due to the release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection being the 10 year anniversary of Halo 2. Never before seen cutscenes were added to Halo 2 that extend the time of the game and you can also swap between the old graphics of Halo 2 and the new upgraded high resolution graphics as you play comparing not only the old graphics, but also the additional cutscenes that were added with the old Halo 2. This "on the fly" graphic swap feature is also available in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition. Both Halo 3 and Halo 4 are already considered to have HD graphics so they did not receive the same treatment as their prior counterparts, however there is a slight difference in comparison to lighting, shadows, and minor details.

The missions of each game play the same as their previous releases with one minor change. You no longer have to play through the story in order from start to finish. All of the missions of each of title are available at the start up menu and you can play them in any order on any difficulty and with a co-op partner.

Unfortunately where The Master Chief Collection takes a turn for the worse is the bug ridden multi-player. There are so many well publicized issues with the multi-player that have been plaguing Halo: The Master Chief Collection that I do not even know where to begin and could not even complete a review of the multi-player.

343 Industries and Microsoft boasted that all of the Halo games in this collection would have their multi-player modes brought over which the thought of reliving the days of Halo 2 multi-player nearly brought me to happy tears. However after multiple attempts at matchmaking to relive my glory days only proved to be a disappointment due to horrible matchmaking times and server connection issues, I gave up. The same with the other lobbies for the other multi-player modes. I was either able to join and then the server failed or I just sat in a lobby waiting for a period of time before I just ended matchmaking. To this day, I have not been able to complete a multi-player match.

As a response to the heat that 343 Industries and Microsoft has felt since the November launch of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, it was announced that those that played from day one through December 19th will be receiving a copy of Halo 3: ODST for free as DLC when it releases onto the Xbox One, an exclusive in game nameplate, an exclusive in game avatar, and one month of Xbox Live gold as a thank-you for sticking it out.

If you are looking to relive that nostalgic feeling of the original Xbox days or just looking to replay through the Halo story before Halo 5: Guardians releases, then I'd say this is for you. However, if you are a hardcore online Halo fan who is looking to jump directly into the multi-player of your favorite Halo modes; old and new, then you may want to wait until this game is fixed otherwise you may end up tossing your controller across the room or at the very least wasting $59.99.

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Hey guys I have a question.. I've been playing Halo 1 on MCE and it feels really weird, I have to ask.. is it impossible to AIM? As in, look down the scope? I've played Halo a hundred million times but it's been so long.. maybe I'm just not familiar with it anymore but it feels like you can only aim from the hip. Too much Destiny lately, maybe I just lost my way.

If you have a weapon that allows you to aim down the sites then you can On a side note...Destiny...does that give you a Borderlands feel?

Have you played it Siren?

I'd say the answer to your question is a solid yes/no. The only Borderlands thing about it is it has gun drops, but they're so random and whatnot that it's not really borderlands-ish. Anything you MIGHT consider using towards late game drops so rarely/infrequently that you can't really draw the comparison. Sure, little damage numbers pop up when you shoot, and there are some chests (mostly worthless) that you can open, but it's definitely not Borderlands.

But the game is still kind of like crack to me. I find myself keep going back to it regardless of how shallow it can be!

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I've watched Jason play it and I've come so close to playing it, but there is something about it that turns me off. It reminds me of so many games...almost like Bungie was too lazy to come up with a game on their own so they just decided to rip off a bunch of other titles and throw it all into one. I was telling Jason it reminds me so much of Borderlands, but then I also get feels of Mass Effect, Phantasy Star Universe (but with better graphics) Halo, Elder Scrolls, and some other ones. I know that can be said about a lot of other games, but there is just something about Destiny that makes me turn my nose up at it. I don't know...maybe I'll give it a go during the live streaming at the giveaway. We'll see.....